PHOENIX – The 17-year-old patient, clad in a light blue, patterned hospital gown and her pink and purple bonnet, sat in a hospital chair attached to wires and tubes, a butterfly sticker affixed to her face to connect one tube to her nose.

On Nov. 5, following two visits to the emergency room, medical professionals at Phoenix Children’s Hospital diagnosed the teenager, Aaliyah James, with hemolytic uremic syndrome resulting from the Shiga toxin, which originated from certain strains of E. coli , according to her mother, Tykeshia Thompson.

James underwent three blood transfusions and six rounds of dialysis, all because she visited the Arizona State Fair, according to Parker’s Promise, a nonprofit organization meant to support and “represent those affected by environmental pathogenic illn

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